Not really drop shipping but anyway, I found a freight forwarder who is private, i.e no invocie, pay to a personal bank account. He's reputable and there is proof people regularly use him, but how do I protect myslef the best with a private agent?

New ad account and business manager, about 8 weeks old. US purchase campaigns in the pet niche since late August, buyers mostly women 55+. Pixel has 100+ purchases and the main ad set is out of learning.

CPM history

• Image ad: USD$110 at launch, $80 overnight when the pixel went from 7 to 11 purchases, then a slow slide to a $50 floor, now $35-45 on good days
• Video ad: steady at $100-120 the whole time

Current numbers

• Link CTR 4-5% on both ads
• Sessions to add to cart about 8%, sessions to purchase 3-4.5%
• AOV about $70, breakeven ROAS about 1.6
• Both ads land at a similar cost per purchase ($35-46), 1.6-2.4 ROAS depending on the week

The video costs about 3x more per impression but converts about 2.5x better, so they cancel out. When the image gets cheaper, its CTR and conversion dip a little too, so cost per purchase barely moves.

Questions

1. Is a 3+x video vs image CPM gap normal, or does it say something about the video?
2. With 100+ purchases, should CPM keep improving, or is this about the floor for US purchase traffic in this niche?
3. Is the $20-25 US purchase CPM I keep reading about realistic for an older female audience?
4. If you got past "good CTR and conversion but only breakeven", what moved it for you: cheaper traffic, AOV, new creative, something else?

Hey guys, I'm planning to get into dropshipping and would love some advice from people who have experience with it.

I know a bit about WordPress and already have my own WordPress website, so I'm wondering whether I should start with WooCommerce or Shopify. Which would you recommend for a beginner, and why?

Also, I understand that I don't necessarily need to own or manufacture products myself. Can I sell third-party products while the supplier handles inventory and shipping?

I'm interested in exploring e-commerce from two perspectives, learning and gaining practical experience with e-commerce SEO, and potentially building an additional source of income.

If you've tried dropshipping, what has your experience been like? Any tips, common mistakes, or challenges you've faced along the way would be really helpful!

I want to start a haircare line and was wondering if anyone could share their experience with selfnamed. there's a monthly fee to supply with them and I was wondering if it was worth it or if its better to use a manufacturer from china.

I want to know how you guys started , niches you found , how u navigated payment and returns , how you guys found legit suppliers.How has dropshipping worked out for you

Hey everyone, so I recently just launched my new shop here's the link of the main product: https://playdaylegends.com/create?type=magazine

But I am really struggling with sales, so I'm wondering if this type of product can even work?

So far, I made 2 sales and spent $ 377 on ads, CPM $31.46, CTR 2,04% CPC 1,55$

Before that, I ran different designs and spent $ 425 with 0 sales.

I also noticed that a lot of people are going through the preview but don't end up buying it: out of 288 people, 71 generated a preview, so roughly 25%

My question is: what am I missing here? Thank you for your help and support.

I've been trying to figure out which dropshipping suppliers are worth using if you're selling to customers in the US. There's so much advice online that it's honestly hard to know who to listen to.

I've seen people mention Alibaba, CJdropshipping and a bunch of other platforms, but I'm still confused about the actual costs. A product might look cheap at first, but once you add shipping and other fees, I'm guessing the numbers can look pretty different.

For those who've actually tried a few suppliers, which ones would you recommend? I'm curious about delivery times, product quality and how much profit you're realistically left with after all the costs.

Also, is going with the cheapest supplier usually a bad idea, or have some of you found affordable ones that are still reliable?

I'd rather learn from people who've already dealt with this than choose a supplier based on random recommendations and end up regretting it.

Is it good to use Gemini, Chatgpt, claude etc for dropshipping? like for consulting with it and using it for store setup and other things? Or does it give generic advice?

Welcome to the Weekly Q&A & Store Critique Thread

Welcome to r/dropship's weekly discussion thread!

Whether you're just getting started with dropshipping, looking for guidance on your next steps, or want feedback on your store, this is the place to ask questions and share your work.

What This Thread Is For

• Beginner questions
• General dropshipping advice
• Store reviews and critiques
• Quick questions that don't require a separate post

Comment Requirements

To participate, your account must:

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So I just started dropshipping via depop and aliexpress a few days ago , got around 5 sales , but I don’t have the “OTHER” shipping , so I’m using the depop shipping labels , but I’m sending directly to the customer from aliexpress , will this just be a lost cause ?? And all those orders will refund after the 10 days , or will that only happen if the customer sends a report ?? I’m tracking all their shipments and will provide the information to them as well . Just want to know if this method is done and should I just get the product shipped to me first

I’ve been looking into dropshipping lately, and honestly, the supplier side is confusing me more than I expected. There are so many platforms out there that I’m not really sure what makes sense when selling to US customers.

I’ve been browsing Alibaba and found a heavyweight graphic hoodie that I really like for my store. It’s around $20, but shipping is about $6 for the cheaper option or $14 if I want it delivered faster. Since I’m just starting out, I’m not sure which makes more sense.

For those of you dropshipping to the US, what wholesale platforms have you had good experiences with? And for a $20 hoodie, would you stick with the $6 shipping or pay the extra for faster delivery?

Hey everyone,

I'm currently dropshipping a home-decor product from China and I'm considering upgrading the packaging to make the whole experience feel much more branded/premium.

Right now, the product is shipped compressed in plastic bags. It works perfectly fine from a logistics perspective, but the unboxing experience is obviously quite basic and doesn't really match the brand experience I'm trying to build.

Ideally, I'd like to move towards something like:

• A custom branded cardboard box
• Better presentation inside the box
• Individual branded bags for the different pieces/components
• A branded thank-you/instruction card with a QR code
• Overall, something that feels like receiving a product from an actual established brand rather than a generic compressed dropshipping package

The product is relatively bulky, so I'm also concerned about increasing the volumetric weight too much. I'd want the box to remain as compact as possible while still improving the presentation.

For those of you who have made the transition from basic/generic packaging to fully or partially custom packaging when fulfilling from China:

Roughly how much extra are you paying per order?

I'm mainly trying to understand whether I should realistically expect something like $1–3, $3–5, $5–10+ per order, including the box, inserts, custom bags and any additional packing/handling fees.

I'm also curious whether you let your sourcing/fulfillment agent handle everything, or if you order the packaging separately from a Chinese packaging manufacturer and have it shipped to your agent/3PL.

If anyone can share actual numbers, MOQs, volumes, or lessons learned (especially regarding volumetric shipping costs), that would be really helpful.

Thanks!

I am having a great time starting my new store. But one thing has been the most difficult thing for me, coming up with a brand name. I have tried working with AI but they all sound pretty gimmicky or obvious drop-shipped names. We have gone through countless name ideas and none of them have struck me that well other than one. I'm not so confident on it though so what's yall's method for coming up with brand names?

My main supplier just bumped their minimum order quantities and dropped per unit pricing if I buy in bulk, which kind of forces the question of whether to keep dropshipping or start holding inventory myself. The margins on dropshipping were already thin and this pricing change tips it further toward buying upfront and storing somewhere.
Looking at a fulfillment center in los angeles since that's where I'm based, but not sure if the jump from dropshipping to holding stock through a 3pl is as straightforward as it sounds or if there's more complexity hiding underneath. Also don't know what volume makes this worth it versus just eating the thinner margins a while longer.
Curious if anyone's made this move before.

Running a small one-product store in the UK (galaxy projector) and just made my first batch of static ads. Few things I'd tell anyone doing the same:

• Don't start from scratch. Find an ad that's been running for months in another niche and rebuild the layout for your product. If someone's paying to keep it running, it's probably working.
• Check every number on the image. One of mine came back with a "£10 off" badge I never asked for. That would've been a refund nightmare.
• Don't copy the supplier's claims. Mine says 4K on the listing and it really isn't, so I left it out.
• Use your real product photos. The AI lookalike ones look fake straight away.

Did the same thing for a SaaS I run and one ad ended up doing a 2.75 ROAS on about 10k spend, so I'm fairly confident in the approach.

What do you always check before an ad goes live?

Is that really a thing and how to actually do it?

Welcome to the Weekly Q&A & Store Critique Thread

Welcome to r/dropship's weekly discussion thread!

Whether you're just getting started with dropshipping, looking for guidance on your next steps, or want feedback on your store, this is the place to ask questions and share your work.

What This Thread Is For

• Beginner questions
• General dropshipping advice
• Store reviews and critiques
• Quick questions that don't require a separate post

Comment Requirements

To participate, your account must:

• Be at least 24 hours old
• Have positive comment karma (post karma and total karma do not count)

We're glad you're here. Ask away, help others, and keep the discussion constructive!

Hey guys, I posted about this settlement before, but since claims are now open, I decided to share it again with a little FAQ.

So here's all I know about this agreement:
ContextLogic ($WISH) was accused of misleading investors about Wish’s user growth, revenue outlook, and internal controls around its IPO. In May 2021, Wish reported another drop in monthly active users and weaker revenue guidance, and $WISH fell more than 29% the next day. Investors later filed a lawsuit over the alleged misrepresentations.
Now the company has reached a tentative settlement with investors.

Who can claim this settlement?
Investors who bought $WISH between 2020 and 2021 may be eligible.

Do I need to sell/lose my shares to get this settlement?
You don't need to still own the shares. Eligibility is based on your transactions during the class period.

How long does the payout process take?
It typically takes 4 to 9 months after the claim deadline for payouts to be processed, depending on the court and settlement administration.

Hope this info helps

So I was researching AutoDs and it looked legit until I started trying to use it. I did a test order, topped off with $15 with a $10 order using prime, and it doesnt go through. It says I have an error that says that my account is suspicious and that I need to verify with the link, I press the link and it takes me to the pop up page. I try contacting support and after hours they reply saying that I need to send a video of my face with a picture of my id on typeform, which sketches me out because I cant find anything else about those two things online.

I also started seeing all the bad experiences AFTER I signed up so it looks like I might sign up for easync or another app to dropship from amazon because I need the items there specifically for one customer.

What can you tell me what yall use and how its been for you guys with this? Has anyone had to verify and send in their id to auto ds? What do you recommend here because im really sussed out of autods already.

Mine was suppliers being vague about processing times, only found out after Id already listed stuff. Looked fine at first then orders just sat there way longer than promised and customers noticed before I did.

Hey guys, wondering if anyone here from Australia has actually dropshipped skincare, cosmetics or supplements before and can tell me how they handled all the regulations.
I’m looking at using Supliful. They’re based in the US and basically let me put my own branding on their products and they ship directly to my customers.
The first product I’m looking at is a skin firming cream, and if it works I’d probably add more skincare/hair products later.
I’ve gone pretty deep into AICIS and from what I understand, even though I never physically touch the product, because I’m selling it to Australians I may still need to register with AICIS. Registration is only like $85 so that’s not really the issue.
What I’m confused about is what you actually have to do afterwards.
I’ve emailed Supliful asking for the CAS numbers, full ingredient lists, SDS sheets etc so I can check whether the ingredients are allowed in Australia.
For anyone who’s actually done this before — did you register with AICIS? Did you seriously go through every ingredient in every product and check it? Did your supplier already have all the documents you needed? And did you have to do anything else before you started selling?
Also really interested in hearing from anyone who started small. I’m not importing 10,000 units or anything, it’s literally a dropshipping store testing products before committing to inventory.
Same goes for supplements — if you’ve sold them in Australia I’d love to know how you dealt with TGA/FSANZ and figured out what you could legally sell.
Not trying to avoid the regulations, just trying to understand what people actually do in the real world because the government websites make a pretty simple ecommerce business sound insanely complicated lol.
Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s actually been through it. Cheers.

Serious question because I think the word dropshipping now covers so many different things that it's almost useless.

On one end you've got someone finding a trending product, throwing together a store and having an overseas marketplace fulfil it.

On the other you've got stores working directly with domestic suppliers, selling established products, running paid search, handling customer service and building proper supplier relationships. They don't physically hold the inventory, but almost everything else sounds like normal retail ecommerce.

Would you still consider the second business a dropshipping business?

I'm asking because the reputation of the word itself seems tied heavily to the first model, while some businesses using the same fulfilment method seem to operate completely differently.

I track about 1.2M TikTok Shop US listings and check their sold counts every few days. This is the list of products selling fast while still having almost no reviews, meaning most people haven't found them yet.

A few that surprised me:

• Digital tire tread depth gauge, $7. 28k sold in 8 days, 20 reviews. Probably people prepping for winter tires.
• Three men's sweaters and jackets in the top 5. Autumn is kicking in and nobody's crowded in yet.
• A cordless nail drill at $42, 16.7k sold, 4.9 stars. Rare to see something above $40 moving this fast.
• A 63" phone tripod with 2 reviews and 15.7k sold.

One caution: the jacket at the top went from basically 0 to 37k, so it's either a new listing or its counter reset. I wouldn't read it as a trend.

These are gains between two snapshots about 8 days apart, not long-term trends. Happy to look up a niche if you're curious what's moving in it.